winter watering

[colt1]

can anyone give me any suggestions on how to keep my water from freezing .i live in central ontario canada.

 

[Time-Out]

I'm trying to figure the same thing out myself. I'm planning on insulating the coop in the hopes that helps, but if not, I thought about lagging the pvc pipe, but then I'd need another pipe over the top to stop the hens pecking the foam...

 

[10 point]

I use one of these

http://www.chickencoopsource.com/ch...ligence_gbase&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=MBC051-1

 

[Judy]

There really aren't many choices. A heated dog water bowl is probably the easiest, or you can build a heater for your waterer for a few bucks with a cookie tin and lamp socket -- if you have power. Some use those large black rubber livestock pans because they are easy to break ice out of.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
I agree. The over-sized heated dog dishes are inexpensive and work very well. I find the bowl itself to be too limiting on water, so I just set a small, one gallon pail into the bucket and it works like a charm. Once we get down to -20F, I am carrying water twice a day. Nothing works at those temps. The hens appreciate the warm water anyhow. Thank goodness, it only gets that cold for a few weeks.

 

[snogs]

Do the heated waterers and water bowls get that slime coating?

 

[carolinasculpture]

Hi! I use the heated dog bowl, but they do get it messy pretty quickly. So, no, they don't get slimy because you have to clean them and re-fill at least once a day.

 

[gale65]

We bought a heated dog bowl for our dog and it quit after one winter. DH is reluctant to buy another (for the dog or the chickens). I'm planning to make a cookie tin heater.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Which is why I like setting a small pail into the heated bowl, rather than trying to constantly fill and clean the dog bowl itself. That isn't fun in zero weather. By having a few pails, I head out to the coop with a full pail and just swap out the old one. I bring the old pail into the house to clean and I always have a pail to fill and take out on my next trip to the coop.

 

[mons02035]

If you switch to using the bucket with nipples, I use a small shatter proof fish tank heater about 25Watts.